1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to industrial vacuum loading devices, and more particularly, to an improved power driven vacuum loading apparatus including a material filtration and a separation means for continuously removing solid material from the flow of air through the vacuum system while the apparatus is in operation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Numerous devices have, in the past, been developed for handling substantial volumes of solids by use of vacuum. Typical of such prior art devices are industrial vacuum cleaners, debris collectors, and street sweeping machines as well as systems such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,776,171 for handling finely divided solids. However, use of these devices has generally been limited to applications when the material handled was to be collected in a closed, sealed hopper, filter chamber, bag or the like, or wherein the nature of the material handled was such that it could readily be permitted to pass through the suction-creating section of the system and be discharged with the exhaust air. Thus, it has generally not been possible to use these devices in continuous loading or material handling operations wherein it is desired to extract the solids from the stream of air moving through the vacuum system, as for loading into an open bin or truck, or to be deposited on a conventional mechanical conveyor system. Efforts have been made to overcome this limitation on the use of such vacuum devices by the use of cyclone separators or the like in conjunction with the vacuum lifting apparatus, but such devices are not satisfactory for many materials and are prohibitively bulky and expensive for many operations.